Disadvantages of Using a Serverless Database

Just like all the things in this world, a serverless database has its disadvantages too. They are mentioned below:

1. Less Control to the User

A serverless database gives the operational management tasks to the service provider, making the user free of the complex database management tasks. However, this gives more control of the database to the service provider. Now, the user cannot decide which infrastructure architecture to choose from based on the requirements. The user will have minimum control over changing anything at any level of the deployment.

2. Data Privacy Concerns

Owning less control over a serverless database raises data privacy concerns for the user. The user cannot establish the necessary levels of protection over certain places for their data and customers. Also, serverless databases may use “multi-tenancy,” where code for multiple clients runs on a single server. This can cause a greater risk to the security of the application, and it can become vulnerable to hackers. Hence, before choosing a serverless database, the user will have to trust the service provider.

3. Variable Performance

Processing times may vary by a wide margin in a serverless database. Due to multi-tenancy, the performance of the application may be affected as there is no dedicated server provided for the deployment. The service providers may use only one server to run code for several clients. Since there is less control over the database for the user, it might be difficult to spot the issues and rectify them to increase performance.

Technology keeps on advancing at a rapid pace, aiming to find solutions to problems and complete the work more efficiently. Problems arise in every sector, and the Department of Database Management and Deployment is no stranger. To build and deploy applications, developers needed some kind of hardware to deal with the database, whether it was the processing of it or the storage. It required a lot of operational management and hence, consumed a lot of precious time, not to mention the increase in costs of using traditional database systems.

A solution was needed, and it did arrive in the form of a serverless database. Now, the developers can create clusters in the minimum amount of time without taking over the management tasks of the database. But that is just a tiny task that a serverless database can perform. In this article, we will discuss the concept of serverless and a serverless database, its characteristics, why serverless is needed in the first place, some examples of a serverless database, and its advantages and disadvantages.